In ancient days, when the king was second only to God in power and authority, a young prince, Devavrata, declined a grand kingdom. He reinforced his refusal by a vow of celibacy so that no offspring of his could come forth to claim it either. He took this difficult decision to please his father Shantanu, and was thereafter hailed by the gods as “Bheeshma” “on the terrible oath”.

It is ironical that Bheeshma, who declined to be a king, wielded royal power longer than any other king of that dynasty. He was the regent for his stepbrothers and for his nephews. Yet, all his was not of his choosing – he had to rule despite his renunciation until duryodhana came of age.

It was perhaps because he had guarded Dhritarashtra’s throne all his life that he sided with Duryodhana against the Pandava princes in the great Mahabharata war and remained loyal to his king. Bheeshma commanded the Kaurava army, and as a soldier and a leader, he was invincible.